At age 19, living in a waterfront shack on Vashon Island, he also built a 37-footer (11.28m) to his own design, and through a friend became interested in building open-water rowing shells. At some point he helped 1984 Olympic Gold medalist Bill Buchan build fiberglass Starboats and a cold-molded 3/4 tonner that they raced to victory in the Swiftsure International Yacht Race and a second-place finish in the 1978 3/4-Ton Worlds. Maas always seemed willing to look beyond his nose and the task at hand to sample different boats as he accumulated skills and experience. The Road to Building an Electric Foiling Cat The foiler’s cockpit sled accommodates the battery box, the steering station, and the passenger/cargo area and extends well forward of the main foil. In Maas’s island workshop, Gizmo dangles from the rafters between farm equipment and Ariel, an International One-Design sloop awaiting restoration. With some talent and the will to work and learn, you could make a living in this industry while also having fun. That’s how it was back in the heyday of the fiberglass revolution that delivered recreational boating to millions of average wage earners. He also worked on other people’s boats, repaired them, built rudders and daggerboards, did anything to pay for his racing habit. Hailing from Seattle, Washington, he started messing with boats as a kid, graduating to OK Dinghies, Lasers, and Finns as soon as he was strong enough. Never one to seek the limelight, Maas is not a household name in the international boatbuilding industry, so let’s start with a short introduction. To illustrate the possibilities that a reduce-reuse-recycle approach can bring about, I made the trek to Center Island, Washington, to meet with Chris Maas, 64, who, as he looks back on a successful boatbuilding career, has the freedom to try out intriguing ideas on boats he builds just for fun. 189 and190), we are looking in more depth into the practicalities of building something entirely new from gear and material discarded by previous owners. The boat consists of mostly recycled and repurposed parts and materials.įollowing our two-part story about fiberglass disposal-or the lack thereof-for end-of-life boats ( Professional BoatBuilder Nos. Retired boatbuilder Chris Maas, demonstrates Gizmo, his purely experimental electric foiling cat that he designed for his weekly shopping trip to Lopez Island. Dieter Loibner | Professional BoatBuilder Magazine
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